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 SPEECH OF 
 
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 SENOR DON MATIAS K0.\ :R(), 
 
 
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-*»»^*«»« 
 
 SPEECH OF 
 
 SENOR DON MATIAS ROMERO, 
 
 HEAD ON THE C'yrn ANNIVERSARY OF THE RIRTH OF flENEJtAL 
 
 ULYSESS S. ORANT, CELEBRATED AT THE >f ETUOI'OLI- 
 
 TAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHCItCH, AT THE 
 
 CITY OF WASHIN(iT()N, ON THE T.in 
 
 OF APRIL, 1SS7. 
 
 Mr. Chairman. Ladies and Gentlemen : Wliile 
 I liiglily appreciate tlie distinction tliat tlie promo- 
 ters of this celebration have conferred upon nie in 
 asking my assistance to honor the memory of one 
 of the greatest men of the mi^c I)}' commenH)rating 
 the sixty-fifth anniversary of his birtliday, I deeply 
 regret that I am iH)t competent to do justice to the 
 subject, especially because T have to express my 
 views in a langunge which is not my own. T am 
 also afraid that my estimate of Gen. Grant m.iy ))«• 
 thought by some to be influenced by my personal 
 regard and admiration for his character. 
 
 It would take much longer time than 1 can com- 
 mand sh(»uld I atteiu])! (o make even a very brief 
 sketch of Gen. Grant's life, which is, on the oihei- 
 hand, so fanuliar to you all, and more particulailv 
 to the congregation of this chureii, uliich w.-is the 
 place of divine worship of (ten. (ir.ani dining the 
 eight years of his oflicial residence at this ca]>ital as 
 President of ilie I'liiled States. 
 
 It would be ])resiimi)tuous on my pail loallrmjif 
 
even to speak of him in connection with his foreign 
 policy, the subject which has been specially assigned 
 to me, and I will therefore confine my remarks to 
 liis views about my own country, which I think I 
 understood well, and some of my personal recollec- 
 tions of him, which perhaps are not generally 
 known, and may therefore be of some interest to 
 you. 
 
 I was during the fall of 1864 living in AVnshing. 
 ton, representing Mexico, and watching with great 
 concern and solicitude the events of the mighty war 
 which was then being waged in this broad country, 
 and which constituted one of the severest trials that 
 republican institution ever encountered, longing as 
 a republican for the success of the Union, among 
 other reasons because I was convinced that the in- 
 tervention which the French emperor had brought 
 over to Mexico, would come sooner to an end if the 
 Union was restored in the United States, wlien the 
 political events of Mexico induced one of the most 
 prominent of Mexican statesmen. Gen. Doblado, to 
 come to this country, and expressed to me his wishes 
 to visit tlie Union army, which was then besieging 
 Richmond and Petersburg under the command of 
 Gen. Grant. 
 
 I most gladly availed myself of that opportunity 
 to visit that army, and to make the personal ac- 
 quaintance of its great leader. I had, of course, 
 heard most of what had been said in favor of and 
 against Gen. Grant by the newspapers, as I had re- 
 sided almost uninterruptedly in Washington since 
 December, 1850, long before (he beginning of the 
 war which made him so famous, lie had then al- 
 ready won his most signal victories, and facts as 
 eloquent as the victories of Fort Donelson, Sliiloh, 
 Vicksburg and Chattanooga were stubborn fads, 
 whicli could not well be contradicted or doubted. 
 Yet he was censured by some, and I had a great de- 
 
3 
 
 rior to make the personal acquaintance of the war- 
 sire who had attained such great victories, and wlio 
 had resting upon him the great work of destroying 
 slavery and saving republican institutions and free 
 and popular government. I therefore made uj^ my 
 mind to accompany Gen. Doblado, who needed my 
 assistance as he could not s])eak English. 
 
 I asked the necessary j^ermit from Mr. Seward, 
 then Secretary of State, who graciously gave us let- 
 ters of introduction to Generals Grant and Meade 
 and to Admiral Porter, and, on the 22d day of Oc- 
 tober, 1864, we left Washington for the James River, 
 via Baltimore, and readied Gen. Grant's headquar- 
 ters at City Point on the 24th. The General re- 
 ceived us with great cordiality. He lodged us in a 
 tent at his camp near his own, sent us to see the 
 armies of tlie Potomac and of the James, under tlie 
 respective commands of Generals Meade and Butler, 
 and exx^ressed to us the greatest sympathy for our 
 cause, and even a desire to serve our government in 
 its struggle to defend tlie independence and auton- 
 omy of Mexico, and thus preserve republican in- 
 stitutions in tliis continent against foreign aggres- 
 sions. 
 
 I may remark liere, in a passing way, tlinl nil the 
 officers of tlio Union army witli whom we came in 
 contact, shared tlie opinion entertained then by llie 
 people of tlie Northern States, that tlie attempt to 
 set up a monarchy in Mexico with foreign bayonets 
 was a step intended to co-oi)erate to the downfall of 
 rcpiibliciin institutions on this continent, and was 
 tiierefort- an act unfriendly to tlie Uniicd Sintcs 
 which this country could not ignore. 
 
 The extraordinaiy sinii)licily of (Jen. (Jmni im- 
 pressed me very forcibly. lU- occnjijcd ;it th:it 
 time at City Point a tent which 1 thought was no 
 better than those of the priviite soldieis, :i?id Imd a 
 luililaiy overcoat as plain as those worn l)\ ih,. 
 
common soldier. His demeanor evinced great sim- 
 plicity, sincerity, and firmness of character, and he 
 seemed to be greatly impressed with tlie responsi- 
 bilities which rested upon him, although he had the 
 firm belief that the war would end in favor of the 
 cause he was defending. His wife and children 
 accompanied him in liis camp, and the solicitude 
 that Mrs. Grant evinced foi- her husbnnd was veiy 
 remarkable. Subsequent acquaintance with tlint 
 extraordinary Indy Ims nllowed me to ;i])]ue('inl(' 
 all her worth, and I have the firm belief that (ien. 
 Grant was indebted to his wife all through their 
 wedded lives for a sound judgment, great attach- 
 ment, and unselfish devotion. The willingness and 
 promptitude with which Mrs. Grant j^nrted with all 
 she had to assist her husband in i)aying his debt of 
 $150,000 to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, of New 
 York, is a deed worthy of a Roman matron. 
 
 The cordiality with which Gen. Grant received 
 me, and the great sympathy he showed for my 
 country during the few days I had the pleasure to 
 spend at his camp, mnde a lasting impression upon 
 me, and were the beginning of a sincere nnd disin- 
 terested friendship, which was converted after his 
 death into great admiration for his chaiacter. It 
 would take much longer time than I could now 
 spare, should I attempt to relate some of the many 
 interesting incidents of our personal intercourse. 
 I hope that it will be sufficient for my purpose to 
 say now that our friendsliij) spiang up fiom the 
 fact that our views on the relations which ought to 
 exist between Mexico and the United States were 
 in perfect accord, and that fact and our relative 
 position in our respective countries gave us the op- 
 portunity of making our friendship not subseivient 
 to any selfish or personal njotive of either of us, but 
 
to what we understood to be the best interest of 
 our respective countries. 
 
 Gren. Grant went to Mexico, as you well know, as 
 a second lieutenant of the army of invasion in 1846, 
 first under Gen. Taylor by the frontier of Texas as 
 far as Salrillo, and afterward under Gen. Scott by 
 Vera Cruz up to the City of Mexico by way of 
 Jnlapa and Puebla, having visited Toluca, Cuerna- 
 vaca, and Ciiaulha Morelos. Of his views about 
 that war he made no mystery and always held 
 it as an unjust war brought about by the 
 ruling class of a strong country against a distracted 
 one, for the only purpose of increasing the area of 
 slavery and to keep the control of the federal gov- 
 ernment in the hands of the slave power. His 
 views on that war, as expressed in his jiersonal 
 memoirs, show that his strong sense of justice and 
 rectitude could not be moved even by such great 
 inducements as his personal interest as a nienilier 
 of the invading aimy, and the interest of his own 
 country. 
 
 The remarkable powers of obseivation and the 
 extraordinary good sense of Gen. Grant permitted 
 him to understand Mexico after a stay of about two 
 years in that country, as a member of the invading 
 army, better than any born or tiained American 
 statesman ever did. To my knowledge, and 1 feel 
 perfectly sure tliat as time rolls away, and as each 
 country becomes better acquainted with the otlie?-, 
 the Afexican policy forecast by (tcii. (iiant will 
 prevail in this country, niid iliat his views .-ilioHf 
 the relations of the United Slates with Mexico will 
 be adhered to, and regaided with as much i«sp«'ct 
 as you hold now the farewell aiMress df Wash- 
 ington 
 
 ({en. (Jrant had a sensitive li(>art, which made 
 him uiiderslaiid and appieci.-ile the troubles and 
 niisrori iiues of a high-spiriiid .■uid <li ivalious but 
 
6 
 
 unfortunate peox-)]e, witli tlie resources and future 
 for a magnificent country, and he always had the 
 greatest sympathy and the kindest feelings for 
 Mexico and the Mexicans. His later experienre jis 
 a statesman and his foreign travels only seived lo 
 confirm his early views about Mexico and his kind 
 feelings towards the Mexicans. 
 
 I was very greatly surprised in my first conver- 
 sation with (jen. Grant to find him so well informed 
 about the condition of Mexico, the social and poli 
 cal status of its people and their needs, the causes 
 which kept it backward, and the means to main- 
 tain peace and order and to turn a distracted into 
 a prosperous and happy people. 
 
 After Gen. Grant returned from Mexico in 1848, 
 he went with his regiment to California, and after- 
 wards he resigned his commission in the army and 
 entered into private pursuits ; then came the civil 
 war in this country, and his patriotic heart could 
 not allow him to remain indillerent to the fate of 
 his country. He offered his services to the governor 
 of Illinois, and his career became a most eventful 
 one from 18(51 to 1864. He had, besides, when 1 
 saw him in October of that year, the greatest care 
 and responsibility hanging upon him, and yet with 
 all that, Mexico was tlie favored topic of his con- 
 versations with me, and his reminiscences of Mex- 
 ico were as fresh and clear as if he had just letunied 
 from my counti-y, and his views as thorough and 
 correct as if he was a Mexican statesman. This 
 fact shows conclusively, in my opinion, the great 
 comprehensive power of his extraordinary mind, 
 and that he really possessed the highest iiilis of a 
 statesman. 
 
 When the war was over. Gen. (^i-ant e.stabli.shed 
 his headquarters in Washington as general in com- 
 mand of tlie United States army, and T then had fr« - 
 (Hjeni ()p}'(»rnniilies lo ««•.• liim, and talk wiih him 
 
about the condition of Mexico, which, at that time, 
 was very critical. 
 
 Public opinion was divided in this country as to 
 the best course to be followed with a view to hasten 
 the end of the French intervention in Mexico. 
 While everybody thought that the intervention was 
 intended on the part of the French emperor as a 
 blow against republican institutions in the world, 
 with a hope of subverting them, and that also he 
 intended to thus assist the Confederate States in 
 breaking up the Union, some, like Gen. Grant, 
 tliouglit that the United States ought to have re- 
 sented this intervention as soon as the civil war was 
 over, and to have sent an immediate notification to 
 the French emperor that unless he should withdraw 
 his troops from Mexico at once, the United States 
 would assist the Mexican government in expelling 
 them fronj the countiy, while others, like Mi. 
 Seward, at the time Secretary of State, thought that 
 the best way to accomplish the same end was to 
 make that demand ui)on the French government in 
 such a manner as not to wound the susceptibilities 
 of the proud French people, which fact might per- 
 haps delay instead of hasten the evacuation of 
 Mexico by the French army. 
 
 As a straightforward man, and one who did not 
 fancy any I'oundabout way of acr()in])lisliing an ob- 
 ject, Gen. Grant felt very anxious on ihis .subject, 
 and did all he could, wiili tlic powerful inlliience 
 and imi)()rtaHt i)osiiion lit> held at the time, to carrj' 
 out his views, sometimes sending to the frontier a 
 large number of troops under Gen. SJKMidan, with 
 out instructions fiom the I*resident, as a demon- 
 stration to the Fi'cnch emperor, and at other times 
 urging the President of the United States to adopt 
 a more decisive policy tlian tlie one pursued by th<> 
 Secretary of State. Enjoying the confidence of 
 ['resident Johnson, howev(M-, Mr. Seward succeeded 
 
in having his policy adopted by the administration ; 
 and the Frencli intervention in Mexico finally canie 
 to an end, although not so soon as Gen. Grant de- 
 sired, bnt sooner than it would have come if the 
 United States had not lent us at the time their good 
 offices. Perhaps it was the best thing that could 
 happen for Mexico and the United States that tlie 
 evacuation of Mexico by the French should have 
 taken place without bringing about any act of hos- 
 tility between this country and France. As it was, 
 I consider it as the greatest blow that the emperor 
 of France had received up to that time ; and I think 
 that I could show plainly that the original cause of 
 his downfall was the mistake he made in trying to 
 set up an empire in Mexico, and the way in which 
 he had to retrace his steps and to abandon to his 
 fate the scion of an imperial house who had trusted 
 him. Very few could imagine at the time that the 
 attempt of the French ruler to subvert the consti- 
 tution of an American republic should bring about 
 the result before the end of many years, of making 
 him lose his throne, and restoring reput)lican insti- 
 tutions in France. 
 
 The interest that Gen. Grant felt in Mexico, and 
 his desire to put as soon as possible an end to the 
 French intervention, was so great that he often ex 
 pressed tome his wish to goat the head of an army 
 of the United States to assist the Mexican govern- 
 ment in driving out the invaders, and this was es- 
 pecially remarkable because, as everybody knows, 
 though he was a great warrior, and very likely the 
 greatest of this century, he utterly disliked wai'. 
 
 After Gen. Grant had taken his tour around the 
 world, which gave him an opportunity that very 
 few men, if any, ever had before, of visiting every 
 important country upon the face of the earth, and 
 to understand, with his wonderful powers of obser- 
 vation, their condition, needs and probable future^ 
 
and having personal intercourse with the most dis- 
 tinguislied statesmen, leading men and rulers in each 
 country, whether in Europe, Asia or America, he 
 naturally had his views, as a statesman, about the 
 ])osition, policy, and future of his own country, 
 very much enlarged, for I hold that there is nothing 
 which expands so much one's mind and allows him 
 to obtain clearer knowledge of this kind than in- 
 telligent traveling in foreign countries. It was then 
 that he matured his views about the condition of 
 China and Japan, and the policy that the United 
 States ought to follow toward these eastern empires, 
 a policy which I think will have to be in the future 
 adhered to by this country as a legacy left to her 
 by one of her greatest men. 
 
 He thought then that his work could not be at an 
 end if he did not visit Mexico again. To be sure, 
 he knew Mexico perfectly well and did not need a 
 second visit to know all about it, but his love for 
 my country was so great that he thought he ought 
 not to fail to see it once more. Early in 1880. he 
 went there again, accompanied by Mrs. Grant and 
 his eldest son, and had the opportunity of seeing 
 the changes wiiich had been acconiplislied to the 
 credit of Mexico, notwithstanding all her misfor- 
 tunes brought about by civil and foreign wai-s, in 
 the nearly quarter of a century whicli had elapsed 
 since iiis first visit. It was then tliat lie matured 
 ills views about the best way for Mexico to develop 
 her own resources and to become a great nation, as 
 well as to the policy tliat the United Status ought 
 to pursue toward Mexico, lie saw at once, with liis 
 great foresight, that the material resources of Mex 
 ico could not be developed in large scale except by 
 the construction of railroads, which would really 
 be extensions of the railway- system of the United 
 States into a country capabk^ of i)roducing in hirge 
 quantities all ihf tio]»ical fruits neecU'd in i]i«> 
 
10 
 
 United States and of consuming from this country 
 a proportionate amount of American manufactures. 
 While Gen. Grant was in Mexico he had conver- 
 sations with the leading men of the country on tliis 
 subject, which led to a request on their part for him 
 to submit the condition of things to capitalists in 
 the United States, with a view that they might make 
 investments in the building of railroads in Mexico. 
 On his return to this country he spoke earnestly on 
 the subject, and the expression of his views con- 
 tributed largely to the organization of several com- 
 panies in the United States for the purpose of build- 
 ing important lines of railroad in Mexico, although 
 he had no personal interest of any kind in them. 
 I refer especiully to the Mexican Central and the 
 Mexican National railways, running respectively 
 from El Paso and from Laredo, Texas, to the City 
 of Mexico. When the building of this line seemed 
 to be an assured fact, he thought that American en- 
 terprise ought not to stop at the City of Mexico, 
 but go on toward Central America, as in that direc- 
 tion lies one of the richest portions of Mexico, and 
 he understood clearly the fact, which is not yet ad- 
 mitted generally, but which I have no doubt will be 
 recognized before long, that the "iron belt" will 
 before very long encircle the whole Americjin con- 
 tinent. With this object in view, he organized in 
 New York a company for the purpose of building 
 a railroad from the City of Mexico toward the 
 frontier of Mexico and Guatemala, with branches 
 to the Gnlf of Mexico and to the PaciHc, and lie 
 went himself to Mexico for the purpose of making 
 the necessary arrangements with the Mexican gov- 
 ernment. This road was not bnilt becansea panics 
 took place about thai tini(^ in this country which 
 njade capital timid : bnt 1 have no doubt it will be 
 one of th»> lirst trnidv lin^s hnilt in Mexico. The 
 connection of Gen. Grant with (he Mexican South 
 
11 
 
 ern road gave his detractors an opportunity to cen- 
 sure him, though he was trying to carry out a law- 
 ful enterprise, which would have been a good in- 
 vestment for cnpitalists, and a great advantage to 
 Mexico. Knowing of the transaction which took 
 place at the time, as I was in New York when Gen. 
 Grant organized the company, and I accompanied 
 him to Mexico, I am perfectly satisfied that while 
 he desired, of course, to i)rotect the capital invested 
 in that road and ro make it a profitable investment, 
 his living motive in that enterprise was by no means 
 selfish, but a national one, solar as his own country 
 was concerned, and a benevolent one, so far as Mex- 
 ico was concerned. I myself have been criticised 
 in connection with that scheme with Gen. Grant, 
 and with the purpose of explaining the General's 
 views on this subject rather than defend myself, I 
 beg to be allowed to say that no thought ever 
 crossed my mind that was not honorable and just 
 to Gen. Grant. Had I any desire to avail myself 
 of his kindness and good will toward me, I would 
 have tried to do so while he was the respected and 
 powerful head of this government ; but during the 
 eight years he filled the ofiice of President of the 
 United States I never was in this country, and 1 
 neither think nor remember of having wi-jiten him 
 a single letter. 
 
 My own connection, besides, with this road was 
 a very clean one. The federal government of Mex- 
 ico had given a grant to tlie governor of the state of 
 Oaxaca in 1880, for the pnrpose of building a road 
 from the City of Mexico to the capital of that state, 
 with bjanches to the Gulf of Mexico and the I'aci- 
 lic, allowing as^b^^i<|y of ab()nts(;ven thousand dol- 
 lars per kilometer. The governor of the state of 
 Oaxaca gave me full i)ower to fiansfer tliis irrant to 
 any ccmipany that I thought wrislikely tobnihl th,. 
 road, and I did transfer ii lo liie conq.any or-an- 
 
12 
 
 ized in New York by Gen. Grant, without charging 
 one cent commission for the disposal of the valu- 
 able property. I, besides, held no lands or any 
 other values which might be enhanced by the build- 
 ing of this road. Nobody was ruined in this coun- 
 try, so far as I know, by that operation. The 
 amount of money spent was by no means a large 
 one, and the greater x^ortion of it was used in buy- 
 ing a large tract on the Gulf of Mexico, wliere lies 
 wiiat is supposed to be the only good liaibor on the 
 Mexican coast of that gulf. 
 
 The two visits whicli Gen. Grant niade to Mexico 
 in 1880 and 1881 developed and confirmed his views 
 about the future of my country and the political 
 and commercial relations that the United States 
 ought to establish with Mexico. 
 
 It was about that time that Congress authoiized 
 the President of the United States to send a com- 
 mission to Mexico foi' the purpose of negotiating a 
 commercial treaty; and Gen. Grant being the man 
 for tlie place, was at once selected for that position 
 bj' President Arthuj-. and his Secret aiy of State. 
 Mr. Prelinghuysen. Having myself been authoi- 
 ized by the Mexican government to meet Gen. Grant 
 for such purpose, I had the honor, as well iis the 
 pleasure, to be associated with him in a work which 
 I believe has a national chiiracter ; and it was a 
 model of fairness, because it did not give either 
 country an undue advantage over tlie other; its 
 intent being to develop a huge trade between the 
 two nations for the niuiiial advantage of both. This 
 treaty evoked the opposition of several parties, 
 some of whom went so far as to assert that in sign- 
 ing it we had a personal purpose to subserve, which 
 was one of the most unfounded as well as unjust 
 assertions ever made. The moment Gen. Grant 
 heard of sucli accusations, lie addressed a letter to 
 a newspaper of this city, which had given currenc}- 
 
13 
 
 to such rumor, denying it in the most emphatic 
 terms, and saying what was a fact, that he never 
 had business connection of any character wliatso- 
 ever with me. 
 
 As I remarked before, I liave no doubt tliat, not- 
 withstanding the opposition wliicli tliis treaty en- 
 countered, the views and principles embraced in it 
 will be hereafter accepted by this countiy as the 
 soundest that can control its lelations witli Mexico. 
 The least thing that could be said about this is that 
 Gen. Grant was, on this subject, several years in 
 advance of his generation. / 
 
 Nothing better illustrates the character of Gen. 
 Grant, and his respect for justice and peace, than 
 his management of the difficulties with England 
 after the civil war was ended here, and duiing the 
 early years of his first presidential term. The 
 United States felt very much aggrieved with Eng- 
 land after the civil war for assistance which they 
 thought she had rendered to their enemies during 
 that war, and a war with England would cei tainly 
 have been a i)opular measure at tliat time, of wliich 
 a detuagogue might have availed himself for objects 
 of personal aggrandizement. A waiiioi' lihe Gen. 
 Grant might have been inlliienced in that legaid by 
 the wish of carrying out a gigantic war between 
 two of the most powerful nations on I he earth, and 
 the hope of achieving similar victories to those 
 which he had already won; but, like a great states- 
 man and a true patriot, he preferred to the doubt- 
 ful and terrible destinies of war, the honorable 
 and peaceable means of arbitration, and, for the 
 first tinie in the history of the world, I believe, a 
 great general, probably the leading soldiei' of his 
 age, agreed to end by peaceful means the dillerence 
 with a rival country, giving up, therefore, all idea 
 of personal fame through another war. 
 
 Not to detain you any longer, 1 will ?iow mtne to 
 
14 
 
 the last moments of Greii. Grant on his dying bed. 
 I went as often as I could to see him, to New York 
 and to Mount McGregor during the last months of 
 his life, and was glad to remain by his bedside two 
 or three days at a time, and I did so especially 
 whenever I learned that his terrible sickness was 
 coming to a crisis. On the 4th of July, 1885, I ar- 
 rived at Mount McGregor and found that the Gen- 
 eral could not talk any longer, but said in writing 
 what he wished, and in this way vve were permitted 
 to keep his last thoughts. I took hisj^id and wrote 
 this question: "They tell me, general, that you 
 have not pain any longer." He answered on the 
 same pad and below my question as follows : 
 " Tiiere were a few days when I had but litde pain 
 and had but little cocaine. Now ] have lo use it, 
 at times, as often as once a half hour to allay acule 
 pain in my mouth. It does not allect it ^^hatever ; 
 only lessens it." He added : You may talk to me. ' 
 In the course of my conversation he wrote on his 
 pad about his terrible sufferings as follows: "I 
 have been a very great sufferer since I saw you last. 
 Generally I get verj' good rest from 11 at night un- 
 til about noon next dny, but not always. Thursday 
 night I neither slept nor was free fiom pain at jinj^ 
 time. Satiirdny was much the snme. Last night 
 I slept and rested well froni about 12 to 7 this 
 morning. I see now a bad day before me." 
 
 In a letter which he had written to me from New 
 York, on the 16th of Febriuiry, 1885, he spoke about 
 his sufferings and his sickness, as follows : 
 
 "I have been a great suH'eicM' since we nx't hist, 
 and continue to be yet, though I feel now that I am 
 at last- improving. Vou ma\' renuMuber that when 
 you were at Long Brancli last summer, I was com- 
 plaining of a sore throat. I thought nothing of it 
 at liie time, and did not consult a i)hysician about 
 it until about a luoiitli after my return to tliecity 
 
15 
 
 It had then run without care, some four months. 
 When the doctor was seen he decided that my sore 
 throat resulted from my stomach being nicotinized. 
 I have given up smoking entirely for the last three 
 montlis, and feel that I am now about free of nico- 
 tine, tliough not of its effect." 
 
 As his grandcliild Ulysses S. Grant, a son of Col. 
 Grant, about 5 years old, came that morning of the 
 4th of July, 1885, to bid him good morning, he 
 wrote: "Happy boy, he does not seem to realize 
 my condition. Tlie little girl does, however," mean- 
 ing his sister, Julia Grant, who was at the time 
 about ten years old. 
 
 His good will toward Mexico was so great that, 
 notwithstanding his intense suffering, and without 
 my mentioning anything to liini about it, lie wrote 
 to me as follows : " I have been intending to write 
 President Diaz a long personal letter, embracing 
 political matters relating to the two countries. 
 There is a stagnation in business in this country 
 which affects Europe as well as Mexico. Nothing 
 is so abundant here as money ; nothing is so cheap 
 or so hard to get except by those who do not want 
 it. Confidence will be restored here, I trust, before 
 many months. If it is, it will be followed up abroad 
 as well as at home." 
 
 Only four days after that, on the 8th of July, 
 1885, some Mexican journalists who had come to 
 visit this country, visited him at Mount McGregor, 
 and he wrote to them the following expression of 
 his views and sympathy toward Mexico. 
 
 " My great interest in Mexico has dated back to 
 the war between the United Statesand that counlrv. 
 My interest was increased when four European 
 monarchies attempted to set up their institutions 
 on this continent, selecting Mexico, a territorj- ad- 
 joining us. It was an ouliage on human rights for 
 a rt)reigii nation to attemi)t to transfer Ikm' inslitu- 
 
10 
 
 tioiis and her ruler.s to llie territory of a civilized 
 people without flieir consent. They were fearfully 
 punished for their crime. 
 
 "I hope M(»xico may now begin an upward and 
 prosperous departure. She has the elements of 
 success. She has the people, she has the soil, she ^ 
 has the climate, and she has the minerals. The 
 conquest of Mexico will not be an easy task in the 
 future." 
 
 This great man, so liberally endowed by nature, 
 with the gifts of a strong mind, a sensitive heart, a 
 most remarkable good sense and a pure character, 
 can be certainly taken as a model for the future gen- 
 erations of this country, and his great services to 
 his country will make his birthday in future ages 
 as sacred for his fellow citizens as Washington's 
 birthday is at i)reseiit. 
 
LibKHKY Ul- CUNbKt^jJ. 
 
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